Prof said… ‘It sounds really EXCITING’ Plus, part 2 of my UVA-UNILAG Carnegie workshop experience… Part 7, Eziaha’s Research Memoirs: #JourneyToPhD

Whoosh!!!

Let’s start with something my sister Ugonne said to me recently about this series…

I loveeeeeet!

I REALLY love to write, and I love that you love to read, so stick around…
There’s more sweetness to tickle your intellectual fancy hehe

Speaking of sweetness, yesterday in my Research class, we delved into Qualitative Analysis and my ears were sooo wide open because my entire research is PURE qualitative. I needed to learn well from Prof because that man is GOOOOOD!

As I was firing him questions upandan, at some point he asked me for my topic, and when I told him, he said:

“It sounds really interesting.”

And I said:

“Yes! It is ridiculously interesting!”

Phew!

Just to be able to layer academia and intellection with rigour on health and wellness? It’s like being in HEAVEN! Haha. I love it!

Here’s my research topic btw:

Understanding Parental Practices and Experiences in Reduction of Ultra-Processed Foods (UPFs) for School-Aged Children in Ikoyi and Victoria Island

Whoosh!!!

Talked about it in this post JourneyToPhD… 2

And I am so grateful that my Department, in addition to lectures, curates workshops and seminars for us, especially around research!

So when the second Carnegie Fellowship workshop rolled around, I made room to show up well. Bonus points? It came right after the WORST lecture I ever had (story for another day). But the workshop over-delivered.

Here are 3 of the many things I picked from it:

A Scoping Review is soooo cool LOL.

I’d seen students present on scoping reviews but never really explored the concept. Prof broke it down so well. I loved his analogy of it being like a map—a bird’s-eye view of the terrain.

2. Some researchers are BAD writers.

They complicate what could be simple. The goal of your work should be to communicate to the greatest number of people, not keep people out with highfalutin, jargon-laden sentences.

3. Whoosh… Decolonizing knowledge.

This one was so beautiful to learn about. We don’t have to bow to Western hegemony in academia. Everything from the West doesn’t have to be superior. South Africa is one country doing this well. I LOVED to hear that!

We learned SO much that day, and I had the honour of giving the vote of thanks. It was sooo good.

Onella didn’t snap me though, and I am so beefing her! LOL!

OK, gotta run. Today is DAY ONE of my 3-day GLOBAL WELLNESS REVIVAL where we are equipping you to build an ARK OF WELLNESS!